YAD
L’ACHIM HAS ARRANGED FOR TALMIDEI CHACHAMIM, INCLUDING GRANDSONS OF
BABA SALI TO DAVEN AT BABA SALI’S KEVER ON THE DAY OF HIS YAHRTZEIT –
TEFILLOS CAN BE FOR

SHIDDUCHIM, PARNASSAH, HEALTH, CHILDREN AND ALL PERSONAL REQUESTS

The
Baba Sali zt”l was very close to Yad L’Achim and encouraged us in our
work every step of the way. Shortly before his passing, he penned a
letter of great inspiration and encouraging Klal Yisrael to support Yad
L’Achim. He included a bracha (blessing) to all who support Yad L’Achim –
from the letter -

THE ABOVE JEWS HAVE DONE FAR WORSE THAN THE BELOW ANIMAL GENTILES!

Rapists Who Brought Bible to Court “As a Reference” Will Spend the Rest of Their Lives in Prison

53-year-old Timothy Ciboro and his son, 28-year-old Esten Ciboro, were found guilty yesterday
on all counts of “rape, kidnapping, and endangering children” over a
period of three years. Their victims include a “13-year-old who said she
was shackled in the basement at various times.”

Looks like that didn’t help them one bit since the judge gave them both the maximum allowable sentences.

Timothy Ciboro, 53, will go to prison for life without parole, a sentence that contains an additional 71 years, while his son, Esten, 28, will go to prison for 68 years to life.

During
sentencing, Judge Linda Jennings of Lucas County Common Pleas Court
called the two ”the most depraved, demented, evil people that I have
ever seen.”
…
“Everything they’re doing they’re
claiming they’re doing it through God’s word,” Frank Spryszak, an
assistant county prosecutor, said during closing arguments. “They stand there with their Bible. They cross-examine people using Scripture, and it’s all perverted.”
…
Timothy, who like his son acted as his own defense attorney, did not speak of the charges against him, but asked
God for forgiveness, saying his “job in this trial was to glorify Him
and not to put forth any dirty laundry or past sin that [the 13-year-old
victim] had committed.”

Because their victim was the real sinner…

I’m
shocked that a book featuring rape, murder, and genocide as part of
God’s Plan didn’t get them off the hook. But at least they’ll have
plenty of time to read it behind bars. Good riddance.

Friday, January 27, 2017

Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, who has
served since 1994 as the spiritual leader of Teaneck NJ’s Congregation
Bnai Yeshurun (which boasts close to 600 families) appears to be making
waves in faraway Israel, in the city of Modi’in. Modi’in resident Josie
Glausiusz on Wednesday sent a letter to the leaders of the city’s
Hameginim synagogue, urging them to cancel a Monday, Feb. 13 event with
Pruzansky, as reported Wednesday by Judy Maltz in Ha’aretz.

Maltz lifted from Wikipedia
some of the “Controversies” section in Rabbi Pruzansky’s page, so we
went to the same source and lifted all of them. Because a well-rounded
education is the foundation of true liberalism:

1. In 1995, Abraham Foxman, then
national director of the Anti-Defamation League, left Pruzansky’s
congregation in protest of the rabbi’s calling then Prime Minister
Yitzhak Rabin the “Rabin Judenrat.” Mind you, at the time, this
“vitriol,” as Foxman called it, was mild stuff compared with other
voices condemning Rabin’s selling out half of the land of Israel to Arab
terrorists.

2. In 2012, Pruzansky wrote in his blog
that President Obama had won by “”pandering to liberal women,
Hispanics, blacks, unions, etc.” This was met with harsh criticism by
mostly liberal women, because there aren’t so many Hispanics, blacks or
union members in Pruzansky’s section of Teaneck.

3. In November 2014 Pruzansky compared
The New York Jewish Week to Der Stürmer. The JW for their part titled
their editorial attacking Pruzansky, “A Rabbi’s Low Blow.”
It was over a blog post titled “Dealing with Savages,” where Pruzansky
proposed using live ammunition on Arab stone-throwers and suggests that
any village that is home to more than two terrorists should be razed and
its inhabitants deported. Foxman and the rest of the usual suspects
accused Pruzansky of racism and of being anti-Arab. Two years and a few
months later, some of the good rabbi’s blog post’s recommendations have
been adopted as policy by the Netanyahu government.

Incidentally, following that post that
urged a radical response to Arab daily violence against Jews,
Pruzansky’s synagogue announced in a letter to the congregation that
Pruzansky agreed to have his future blogs reviewed by editors and that
the board would periodically review the process. Pruzansky himself was
forced to express to the congregation his regret for having written in a
way that “many have deemed harsh.”

4. On March 31, 2016, Pruzansky
published a blog post titled “A Novel Idea,” blaming the promiscuous
culture for many rapes reported on US campuses, and proposing marriage
as a solution to the overall problem. Pruzansky was accused of blaming
the victims of rape, of not taking rape seriously, and of not
acknowledging or understanding marital rape exists (On campus?).

5. Pruzansky continues to serve as the
Orthodox lightening rod for the Jewish left. Following an April 13,
2016, blog post in which he reiterated his arguments and position, the
Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance (JOFA) demanded that Pruzansky be
removed from the speaking roster of a conference at Bnai Yeshurun
synagogue in Manhattan. Pruzansky was removed as speaker. In April 2016,
the Rabbinical Council of America wrote that “while Rabbi Pruzansky
raises some important points regarding sexual behavior on college
campuses, the RCA rejects the tone and much of the substance of his
recent comments regarding rape.”

Incidentally, while by Rabbi
Pruzansky’s current account his synagogue has close to 600 member
families, earlier accounts suggest there used to by as many as 800,
which could mean the vociferous rabbi was doing damage to the
synagogue’s bottom line.

Author Josie Glausiusz (The American
Scholar) is spearheading the effort to block Rabbi Pruzansky’s
appearance in Modi’in next month. Glausiusz is a fervent leftwing
feminist (we visited her Twitter account), often in the most predictable
fashion. Her email to the Hameginim synagogue read, “Rabbi Pruzansky’s
views are deeply insulting to women, to Arab citizens of Israel, to
Holocaust survivors, and to the family of Yitzhak Rabin and all those
who mourned his murder.”

In other words, she, too, has hit the good rabbi’s Wikipedia page…

Glausiusz continued, “He should not be
offered a public platform in Modi’in to air his offensive views. I call
upon you to rescind your invitation to Rabbi Pruzansky to speak at your
synagogue.”

The event, incidentally, will be an
interview of Rabbi Pruzansky by Hameginim’s congregational rabbi, Adi
Sultanik. Glausiusz, who could have opted to come to the event and ask
embarrassing questions during the Q&A, opted instead to agitate for
killing the show. Glausiusz told Ha’aretz: “I’m so fed up with people
like this being given a public platform. As a woman and an Israeli
citizen, I feel it is important to speak out against someone with such
offensive views.”

No, that’s not what she’s been doing.
Speaking against Pruzansky, demonstrating, demanding equal time – those
would have all been legitimate responses. Instead, passing on debate and
discussion, Glausiusz is advocating a boycott.

Thursday, January 26, 2017

Look, having nuclear—my uncle was a great professor and
scientist and engineer, Dr. John Trump at MIT; good genes, very good
genes, OK, very smart, the Wharton School of Finance, very good, very
smart—you know, if you’re a conservative Republican, if I were a
liberal, if, like, OK, if I ran as a liberal Democrat, they would say
I'm one of the smartest people anywhere in the world—it’s true!—but when
you're a conservative Republican they try—oh, do they do a
number—that’s why I always start off: Went to Wharton, was a good student, went there, went there, did this, built a fortune—you
know I have to give my like credentials all the time, because we’re a
little disadvantaged—but you look at the nuclear deal, the thing that
really bothers me—it would have been so easy, and it’s not as important
as these lives are (nuclear is powerful; my uncle explained that to me
many, many years ago, the power and that was 35 years ago; he would
explain the power of what's going to happen and he was right—who would
have thought?), but when you look at what's going on with the four
prisoners—now it used to be three, now it’s four—but when it was three
and even now, I would have said it's all in the messenger; fellas, and
it is fellas because, you know, they don't, they haven’t figured that
the women are smarter right now than the men, so, you know, it’s gonna
take them about another 150 years—but the Persians are great
negotiators, the Iranians are great negotiators, so, and they, they just
killed, they just killed us.

When
praying for the sick, it is customary to recite Tehillim - Psalms, give
Charity and pray for their speedy and complete recovery. An opportune
time for a special prayer to be recited for the sick is during the Torah
reading.

1. For the conductor, a song of David. 2. May the Lord answer you on a day of distress; may the name of the God of Jacob fortify you. 3. May He send your aid from His sanctuary, and may He support you from Zion. 4. May He remember all your meal offerings and may He accept your fat burnt offerings forever. 5. May He give you as your heart [desires], and may He fulfill all your counsel. 6. Let us sing praises for your salvation, and let us assemble in the name of our God; may the Lord fulfill all your requests. 7.
Now I know that the Lord saved His anointed; He answered him from His
holy heavens; with the mighty acts of salvation from His right hand. 8. These trust in chariots and these in horses, but we-we mention the name of the Lord our God. 9. They kneel and fall, but we rise and gain strength. 10. O Lord, save [us]; may the King answer us on the day we call.

Prayer for the Sick

G‑d, G‑d, mighty, merciful and gracious, long - suffering, and
abundant in love and truth, keeping truth for thousands of generations,
forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and Who erases.

Yours, Lord, is the greatness, the strength, the splendor, the
victory and the glory; for everything in heaven and earth is Your
Kingdom; God Who is exalted above every leader. And in Your hand is the
soul of every living thing and the spirit of all mortal men. And in Your
hand is the power to make great, to strengthen and to cure every
person, even one who is crushed, crushed to the very depths of his soul.

Nothing is unknown to You, and in Your hand is the soul of every
living thing. Therefore may it be Your will, O trustworthy God, Merciful
Father, Healer of all illnesses of Your people Israel; the One Who
dresses the wounds of beloved ones with healing balms, and Who redeems
His devout ones, and Who delivers the souls of His servants—

Restore his/her spirit and soul. May You be filled with mercy for
him/her to restore him/her to health, to cure, strengthen, and
revitalize him/her as is the wish of all for his/her relatives and loved
ones. May You send him/her a complete recovery, a spiritual recovery,
and a physical recovery.
Renew his/her youth like the eagles; send him/her, and all who are
ill a lasting cure, a blessed cure, a gracious and compassionate cure, a
merciful cure, with peace and life and lengthy days and years. May
there be fulfilled for him/her and all who are ailing the verse recorded
by Your servant Moses, the most faithful of Your House:

“And he [Moses] said:“any sickness that I have brought upon Egypt I will not bring upon you, for I am God, Your Healer.’”

“And He shall bless your bread and your water, and I shall remove
sickness from among you.” “None shall miscarry nor be barren in your
land; I will fill out the number of your days.”

“And God will remove from you all sickness....”

Heal us, God—then we will be healed; save us—then we will be saved,
for You are our praise. Bring complete recovery for all of the ailments
of Your people, the family of Israel, and particularly to [state the
person’s name] the son/daughter of [state the person’s mother’s name], a
complete recovery to (for a male: his 248 organs and to his 365 sinews)
(for a female: all her organs and her sinews). Cure him/her like [You
did] Hezekiah, King of Judah, from his sickness, and like Miriam, the
prophetess, from her leprosy. Employ the sacred names that emanate from
the verses containing Your thirteen attributes of Divine Mercy. Please, O
God, heal [person’s Jewish name] the son/daughter of [person’s mother’s
Jewish name] and raise him/her from his/her sickbed.

Grant lengthy days and years to him/her so that he/she may serve You
with love and fear. And grant him/her a life of mercy, a life of
health, a life of peace, a life of blessing, as it is written: “For
length of days and years of life and peace shall they add to you.”Amen, Selah.

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

"Trump
could betray Israel as easily as he betrayed Rudy Giuliani, Newt
Gingrich and Chris Christie, who supported his campaign, only to be
abandoned. Trump could “Romney” Netanyahu, courting him, encouraging
expressions of fealty, then double- crossing him if Netanyahu ever
disagrees with him."

Center Field: Sage advice- The Ethics of the Fathers vs. Donald Trump

These aren’t predictions, but caveats for responsible leaders in
a treacherous world, during unstable times, facing a boorish president.

Edited by me....

Harry Truman, Ronald Reagan or Bill Clinton could have
delivered most of President Donald Trump’s inaugural address. Who
disagrees that “the nation exists to serve its citizens?” Even the
controversial “American carnage” line is in line with many presidents
who offered “A New Deal.” Ultimately, the only thing wrong with Trump’s
inaugural address was the address itself.

The speech lacked grace. Trump was who he is, the scrappy New Yorker with Twitterrhea.

The speech was supposed to transition, transform, elevating him
– and us – from the political swamps to the peaks of American
nationalism, history, destiny. Traditionally, inaugural addresses are
like the new presidents, gussied up for the occasion in top hats and
morning coats. But while you can dress Trump up, he still talks down.
The new commander-in-chief remains the Twitterer- in-chief; he sits in
Washington’s chair, but stews in the gutter.

Trump already needs an intervention – a kick in his Brioni pants to become a statesman.

Without grandeur, without moral authority, the president – and the nation – wither.

Reading this 1,900-year-old book ( Pirkei Avot), you’d think it was rushed into print after November 8.

The
sages teach: “One who tries to inflate his reputation, loses his
reputation.” A wise person “does not interrupt the words of his fellow,
and does not rush to reply.... He concedes to the truth. With the boor,
the reverse... is the case.” We learn that “one who is easily angered
and is difficult to appease, is wicked.”

“If you are boorish and crude, you will not realize how roughly you are treating people.”

Wonder
“who is strong?” The sages answer: “One who controls his impulses.” “Weak people bear down on others whom they perceive
to be weaker than they are.”

The sages celebrate silence as “a
fence for wisdom.” Silence “enables listening,” our rabbi notes, while
“speaking less means that one is less likely to say foolish things.”

The
sages advocate restraint, humility, respect, understanding that less
can be more, leading through distance. Underlying this advice is the
realization the Perek articulates when explaining why “keep away from a
bad neighbor” that “people often unconsciously imitate the behavior of
those with whom they associate” – and whom they follow.

America’s president sets the nation’s tone – his behavior is contagious, for better or worse.

Following
the rabbis, Trump should have used his inaugural to mollify the
millions who voted against him. He would have been secure enough to
ignore Congressman John L. Lewis’s questioning of the election’s
legitimacy.

And he would not have harmed his reputation by
appearing so protective of it that he couldn’t “concede the truth” that
more Americans attended Obama’s inauguration.

The sages’ wise if
seemingly contradictory advice for Trump’s opponents suggests: “Be
yielding to a leader... and receive every man with joy.” “Be flexible and bending with a superior, who is more
powerful than you.” Accepting everyone “cheerfully... is a form of
respecting and honoring the other.”

Yet, “In a place where there are no men, strive to be a man,” meaning “a mentsch.”“It is especially urgent to step up in a moral
crisis situation when no one is standing up for what is right. Take
responsibility.”

“Disputes
are rarely a matter of black or white,” “Any judge
who is absolutely convinced that he is right beyond question in his
rulings... is either a fool or a wicked person.”

Centuries before Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, the sages understood that a social contact protects people from one another.

“Pray
for the well-being of the government,” they preached; “for were it not
for fear [of its power], every man would swallow his fellow alive.”
All Americans must accept Trump as president – respecting authority.

Finally, some
sage warnings for Trump’s allies – including Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu. “Be very careful of the governing people,” the rabbis
cautioned. “They befriend a person only for their own interests.

They
appear to be loving friends when they are benefiting from a person,
but they do not stand by a person when he is struggling.”

Trump
could betray Israel as easily as he betrayed Rudy Giuliani, Newt
Gingrich and Chris Christie, who supported his campaign, only to be
abandoned. Trump could “Romney” Netanyahu, courting him, encouraging
expressions of fealty, then double- crossing him if Netanyahu ever
disagrees with him.

These aren’t predictions, but caveats for
responsible leaders in a treacherous world, during unstable times,
facing a boorish president.

Ultimately, this sage advice trusts
humans as creatures blessed with free will, constantly evolving,
changing, choosing and, becoming “even more
responsible for bringing God’s love and care to all creatures.” Could a
70-year-old amateur president with gutter instincts transcend his
flaws and grow into the grandeur of his new position? Let’s hope.
The author is professor of history at McGill University and the author of 11 books. Twitter @GilTroy.

Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and other Arab allies have
warned the White House of severe repercussions should it proceed with
the move.

WASHINGTON -- Once committed to quickly moving America's
embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the Trump administration
is now expressing caution, promising only to review the matter
extensively and in consultation with "stakeholders" in the conflict.

That
deliberative process tracks closely with the policy evolutions of two
prior presidents, Barack Obama and George W. Bush, who also campaigned
on a pledge to move the embassy. Both ultimately reversed course while
in their first terms office.

"If
it were already a decision, then we wouldn't be going through a
process," Sean Spicer, the new White House press secretary, said in his
first press briefing on Monday. He declined to commit the administration
to moving the embassy by the end of Trump's term, four years from now.
"His team is going to continue to consult with stakeholders as we get
there."

Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and other Arab allies
have warned the White House of severe repercussions should it proceed
with the move, including a review of bilateral relations with both the
US and Israel. Arab states have also warned of an upsurge in violence
should the embassy be relocated.

Trump's campaign promise was
unflinching: "We will move the American embassy to the eternal capital
of the Jewish people, Jerusalem," Trump told the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee in March. He repeated that commitment at several
subsequent campaign events.

"The Palestinians must come to the
table knowing that the bond between the United States and Israel is
absolutely, totally unbreakable," he said.

(Donald Trump at AIPAC conference in March 2016: Will veto anti-Israel moves at UN, move US embassy to Jerusalem)

"But when the United States stands with Israel, the chances of peace
really rise and rises exponentially. That’s what will happen when Donald
Trump is president of the United States.(CHEERS, APPLAUSE)We will move the American embassy to the eternal capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem.(CHEERS, APPLAUSE)And we will send a clear signal that there is no daylight between America and our most reliable ally, the state of Israel.(CHEERS, APPLAUSE)"

In
readouts from the prime minister's office and the White House on
Sunday, neither said that a phone call between President Donald Trump
and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made any mention of the embassy
relocation.

By delaying the move, the White House buys itself
time to weigh how such a move would adversely impact its coalition
against Islamic extremists and its plans for a Middle East peace
initiative, to be led by the president's adviser and son-in-law, Jared
Kushner. It also suggests the administration is mindful of the impact
such a dramatic act would have on the politics of the world's most
tumultuous region.

"We're at the very early stages of that decision-making process," Spicer said.

Reports: Ex-chief rabbi to be jailed for 3.5 years

Under plea bargain, Yona Metzger would confess to slew of corruption charges in exchange for reduced prison sentence

Former
Chief Rabbi of Israel, Yona Metzger (l) seen at the Jerusalem District
Court during his trial, where he is suspected of taking bribed, fraud,
and involvement in criminal activities, on July 21, 2016. (Yonatan
Sindel/Flash90)

Former chief rabbi Yona Metzger is reportedly to be jailed for three and a half years in a plea bargain about to be signed.

Metzger
reached a plea agreement with state prosecutors over a slew of
corruption and bribery charges involving some NIS 10 million ($2.6
million), Channel 2 reported Sunda

Metzger will plead guilty to fraud, theft,
conspiracy, breach of trust, money laundering, tax offenses and
accepting bribes. In addition to serving jail time, the state will
foreclose on an apartment in Metzger’s name in central Tel Aviv.

The plea deal was offered after months of
negotiations between Metzger’s attorneys and senior officials in the
State Attorney’s Office, the report said.

In March of last year, Metzger’s trial began
at the Jerusalem District Court, with Metger facing charges of
accepting some NIS 10 million in bribes through various nonprofit
groups, and keeping about NIS 7 million ($1.8 million) for himself.

Metzger stepped down as chief rabbi on July
24, 2013 due to the pending fraud investigation, just before the end of
his 10-year term in office.

Former
Chief Rabbi of Israel, Yona Metzger (r) seen at the Jerusalem District
Court at the opening of his trial, where he is suspected of taking
bribed, fraud, and involvement in criminal activities, on March 10,
2016.

In 2014, the Israel Police’s National Fraud
Unit, also known by its internal police moniker Lahav 433, opened a
months-long investigation into alleged scams linked to Metzger involving
millions of shekels of funds purportedly siphoned into his accounts.
The case was then handed to the Jerusalem District Attorney’s office,
which examined it before passing it on to then-attorney general Yehuda
Weinstein, who brought the charges against Metzger.

Police said Metzger had stashed about $200,000
with his sister in Haifa, and a search of his home turned up NIS 40,000
(over $11,300 at the time) in cash hidden in various books. At the
time, Metzger contended that the money in Haifa came from an
inheritance, but the investigation found this claim to be untrue.

According to the indictment, various nonprofit
organizations connected with the rabbi during his term in office
received millions of shekels in donations, some of which Metzger
allegedly took for his personal use.

In addition to profiting from donations to
charitable causes, he was also accused of taking bribes meant to sway
his opinion on matters he attended to as chief rabbi.

Israel has two chief rabbis, one Ashkenazi, or
of European Jewish heritage, and one Sephardi, hailing from Jewish
communities of the Muslim world. Their responsibilities include running
the rabbinical courts and regulating the kosher food supervision
industry.Metzger was voted into the prestigious
position in 2003 with the support of the senior ultra-Orthodox
rabbinical authorities at the time.In 2005, he was questioned on suspicion of
receiving benefits from a hotel in Jerusalem in return for favors, and
police recommended he be tried for fraud and breach of trust.

But the attorney general at the time, fearing
an unsuccessful prosecution, decided against indicting him. Instead, he
wrote a scathing report about Metzger, accusing him of lying to police
and recommending that he resign immediately.

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner at the Liberty Ball on Friday evening.Credit
Ruth Fremson/The New York Times

For Ivanka Trump
and her husband, Jared Kushner, celebrating the presidential
inauguration by attending the gatherings on Friday night posed an
obstacle to their Orthodox Jewish observance of the Sabbath.

Ms.
Trump, President Trump’s older daughter, and Mr. Kushner got special
permission to break from strict religious laws that prohibit them from
using technology or mechanized devices, such as cars, during the
Sabbath, which begins on Friday evening.

A
Jewish person who was briefed on the matter but not authorized to speak
publicly about it said on Friday night that they were given an
exemption under the principle in Jewish law of pikuach nefesh, which
suggests preserving the safety of a specific person over any religious
consideration.

In the case of Mr. Kushner and Ms. Trump, that would have meant being outside security escorts once the Sabbath had started.

The special permission was granted to protect the couple's
safety. Life-saving measures, such as the work of surgeons or soldiers,
are permitted on Shabbat.

Ivanka Trump and husband Jared Kushner celebrate Hanukka with their three children.

Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner have received
rabbinic permission to travel by car on Friday evening following the
inauguration of her father, Donald Trump, as the next president of the
United States, according to a Kol Barama radio interview with Mark Zell,
the chair of the Republican party in Israel.

Traditionally,
traveling in a car on Friday evening or Saturday is a violation of the
Jewish Sabbath. Jared Kushner is Jewish, and Ivanka converted to
Judaism. In a November Jerusalem Post piece, Shira Schmid noted that Ivanka "took on observance of Shabbat, holidays and kashrut, and adopted the Hebrew name Yael."

"We
observe the Sabbath. From Friday to Saturday we don’t do anything but
hang out with one another. We don’t make phone calls," Ivanka told Vogue in March 2015.

Ivanka
praised the way that Shabbat provides a "blueprint for family
connectivity," in that it protects time for her to spend with her
family, including her eldest child, Arabella. “It’s an amazing thing
when you’re so connected, to really sign off," said Ivanka. "And for
Arabella to know that she has me, undivided, one day a week? We don’t do
anything except play with each other, hang out with one another, go on
walks together. Pure family!”

According
to Zell, the special permission to travel by car was granted in order
to protect the couple's safety. Life-saving measures, such as the work
of surgeons or soldiers, are permitted on Shabbat under the rule of pikuach nefesh, or protection of life, which overrides other commandments in the Torah.*

Thursday, January 19, 2017

A Shvartz Yar To You Hussein Obama!

Sholom Rubashkin is still in prison

Obama refused to grant despite pardoning a terrorist and a whistleblower, and hundreds of other chaleryas!

Previous
outgoing presidents have pardoned a number of people during their last
days in office.

President Obama stoked controversy in his last week in
office by commuting the sentence of Oscar López Rivera, an unrepentant
terrorist who was not pardoned by former President Bill Clinton because
he had refused to renounce violence, and by commuting the sentence of Chelsea Manning, the US soldier who gave tens of thousands of documents to Wikileaks, including classified information.

However, President Obama has still failed to respond to Sholom Rubashkin's request for clemency.

In the last hours of the President's term in office, the family is
extremely hopeful and praying hard for miraculous news. They urge anyone
with a relationship with the President to contact him about this
important case.

Sholom Rubashkin (age 57) headed Agriprocessors, a meat slaughtering plant
in Iowa for many years. About seven years ago federal forces raided the
factory and brought charges of hiring illegal immigrants and minors.

Sholom Rubashkin was acquitted of violating underage labor laws, but found
guilty of financial fraud. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison and
fined $31 million.

According to a November 2016 article in the Wall Street Journal, prosecutors overstepped, interfered with the process of bankruptcy and then solicited false testimony.

In his last major act as president, Barack Obama is cutting short the
sentences of 330 federal inmates convicted of drug crimes. The move
brings Obama's bid to correct what he's called a systematic injustice to
a climactic close.

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Did God choose Trump? What it means to believe in divine intervention

US rabbi rewrites prayer - to avoid blessing Trump

Open
Orthodox rabbi and founder of religious 'social justice' movement says
he can't recite prayer for success of president after Trump win.

Members of the clergy lay hands and
pray over Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at the New Spirit
Revival Center in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, on Sept. 21, 2016. Photo
courtesy of Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

(Editor’s note: Since Donald Trump’s victory in last year’s
election, many Christians became convinced he was chosen by God to be
president even though he hardly fits their mold of a virtuous leader. In
our “Hand of God” series, we take a closer look at the widespread
belief that God intervenes in our nation’s political process. We profile
three people who think that’s the case. And we analyze why they believe
what they do, and look at the potential implications for American
democracy.)

WASHINGTON (RNS) Democracy may be based on the principle of “one
person, one vote,” but some people who supported Donald Trump believe
the Master of the Universe cast the master ballot.
“God raised up, I believe, Donald Trump,” said former U.S.
Rep. Michele Bachmann after he won the GOP nomination. “God showed up,”
the Rev. Franklin Graham said to cheers at a post-election rally. “God
came to me in a dream last night and said that Trump is his chosen
candidate,” said the televangelist Creflo Dollar.

For those who share this view, Trump’s victory was nothing short of
miraculous, especially given that he beat out 16 other in the Republican
primaries — some of them evangelical Christians with long political
resumes.

“For me, that has to be providence. That has to be the hand of God,”
said Paula White, an evangelical pastor Trump has tapped to pray at his
inauguration.

While it is unclear how many people accept this version of events, conservative Christians appear most likely to embrace it.

But taken to its logical conclusion, the belief that God is in
control of earthly events leads to noxious moral positions and bad
public policy, warns William Schweiker, an ordained Methodist minister and professor of theological ethics at the University of Chicago Divinity School.

William
Schweiker is the Edward L. Ryerson Distinguished Service Professor of
Theological Ethics at the University of Chicago Divinity School,
a former president of the Society of Christian Ethics and an ordained
minister in the United Methodist Church. Photo courtesy of William
Schweiker

“It means it’s OK with you and it’s God’s will that millions of people starve to death because of our actions,” he says.

“We don’t need to worry about the nations going under water because of climate change.”
For those who see Trump’s inauguration on Friday (Jan. 20) as
disastrous, the idea that God endorsed him is easy to dismiss as wishful
thinking on the part of conservative Christians who came out for the
winner in such overwhelming numbers.

But theologians across faith traditions have taken the question of God’s role in human affairs quite seriously for millennia.

Among those who study religion and politics — even among those who
don’t believe in God or reject the notion that he puts his thumbs on the
electoral scales — the belief remains relevant if only because so many
people hold it.

And while many scholars of divinity deem it theologically
problematic, they still invite study of the issue. It’s an unsettled
question in many minds, and complicated: Not everyone who believes God
intercedes in human affairs believes so in the same way. Not everyone
who believes God put Trump in office likes Trump.

The question of God and the election begs bigger questions — about
the nature of God, and if and how God becomes involved in earthly
affairs. It is also a question of comfort. For some believers a God who
picks the president is a God close at hand.

“At bottom, it is connected to the belief that God cares about our
lives, which is a great thing,” says Wheaton College theologian Vincent Bacote, who nevertheless subjects to close scrutiny any claim that God intercedes in American elections.

The divine ballot

Popular evangelical speaker Ken Ham,
founder of the Creation Museum, blogged about Trump during the
campaign: “I doubt he truly understands what real Christianity is.”

“God is in total control,” Ham says. “He makes that very clear in the
Bible where he tells us that he raises up kings and destroys kingdoms.
He even calls a pagan king, Cyrus, his anointed, or his servant to do
the things that he wants him to do.”

It’s an idea that sits well with many evangelicals who voted for
Trump. The bragging and often crass president-elect, like the Persian
King Cyrus in the book of Isaiah, may not behave as a God-fearing man
should. But isn’t that just like God to use a far-from-perfect person to
fulfill God’s grand plan?
Still, belief in God’s sovereignty and the Bible’s flawed prophets
does not make the case for God choosing Trump for many mainline
Protestant and Catholic theologians.

It’s a problem of theodicy – the tension between an all-powerful God
and the fact of evil in the world — says Schweiker, who teaches that
theology subjects religious belief to debate and rational argument.

“If you say God’s in control of everything then you’ve got to say that God is a really God-damned bastard,” he says.

A God in total control is not a problem for Ham in light of any
tragedy, from the Holocaust to a tsunami. “People single out particular
events and say, ‘Where was your God?’” says Ham, who is not disclosing
his choice in the presidential election.

“But we’ve got to stand back and looks at the big picture,” Ham
continues. “That was their turn to die. You’re going to die. The
important thing is to look at yourself and ask, ‘Am I ready to face
death, am I reconciled with my savior so when I die I’ll spend eternity
with him?’”

This perspective riles Schweiker, who did not vote for Trump and asks
of Ham: “He thinks there is no moral difference between natural death
and murder?”

If God chose Trump, did God choose Obama?

On the first day of this year’s spring semester at evangelical
Wheaton College, Bacote asked his students about the role of God in the
recent election. One said his relatives believe God works through
imperfect individuals.

But the professor questions how anyone could be so sure about God
favoring any particular candidate, how anyone could be “so dialed into
how providence operates.” He points to the Bible.

“If one is taking Scripture seriously you have to ask, ‘Where do you find the United States in the Bible?’ Well, you don’t.”

And, Bacote continues, if God had a hand in one contest, then did he have a hand in them all?

“Was God involved in gubernatorial races? Mayoral races?”

Ham, by contrast, believes Trump, even before he takes the oath of office, is already working in harmony with God.

Trump has appointed Christians to important positions in the new administration.

And around his Kentucky home this year, Ham says, more people
said “Merry Christmas,” as opposed to the “Happy Holidays” they had
offered in previous years.

Ham’s certitude might draw challenges from theologians like Bacote. But he might get points for consistency.

“If Hillary Clinton would have won,” Ham adds, “we would need to accept that God had put her there for whatever reasons.”

God’s to-do list

Talking about God and the 2016 election, the discussion often turns to parking.

Schweiker, the Methodist theologian, arguing against those who see
God’s hand in even mundane human affairs, offers the example of the
“little old man who prays for parking places and then gets a parking
place and says it’s God’s act for him.”

But in attributing a prime parking spot or cash found on the sidewalk
to God, people tend to point to their own specific experiences without
considering the negative effects on others, Schweiker says.
“That little old man may have kept a very sick person from getting a
parking place and getting to the hospital on time,” he says. “Since
Christians are supposed to love their neighbors, that’s a bit of a
problem.”

Carmen Fowler LaBerge,
who hosts “The Reconnect,” a Christian radio show, also offers the
parking space example — not necessarily to challenge claims that God
intervenes in everyday human affairs, but to show the various ways
Christians can approach the issue.

“The fun part about this conversation,” says LaBerge, “is that it
ranges from ‘what is God’s will for all of known history, and then
there’s like, ‘God’s will that I get a particular parking space.’
”
Many Christians believe God intercedes in mortal lives in grand
terms: his plan that the human story have a particular ending, for
example, as described in the New Testament.

LaBerge, a board member of the National Association of Evangelicals,
says she knows God’s will because she has “read to the end of the book.”

When it comes down to the way a sovereign God works on a smaller
scale, as she and all human beings go about their days, LaBerge sees it
this way: “God made me a free person … in the way I live my life, the
choices I make, the words I use.”

She applies this view to her thinking on God and whoever wins an election.

“If God’s hand is on the scales, what I can tell you is the way it is
happening is through human agency. It’s the way the Holy Spirit is
leading individuals to discern and then to act,” LaBerge says.
She says “if” God’s hand is on the scales. What about Christians who are sure about God choosing Trump?

Even those who share Schweiker’s objections to the idea of God
steering humans to parking may understand this year’s election as a
sharp turn in the course of history, with the stakes high enough to
explain God’s direct intervention.

The Rev. James Bretzke. Photo courtesy of Boston College/Lee Pellegrini

The belief may be tempting, but the Rev. James Bretzke counsels against it. He does not imagine the Holy Spirit could have had anything to do with Trump’s election.

The Jesuit and Boston College professor of moral theology also
invokes the concept of free will and agrees that God has chosen flawed
people to work his will in the past … but not Trump in 2016.

Those God chose in the Bible were flawed because they were unassuming
and unexpected, he says. Gideon was an ordinary shepherd. David was the
last of his brothers. And David was a flawed leader. “But ultimately
what sets him apart is when confronted with his sins he acknowledged
them” and repented.

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

"When religion can no longer be taken for granted, it is still possible
to have faith, but that faith will also be accompanied by a penumbra of
doubt. One may decide to have faith, but every decision is in principle
reversible. Religious certainty becomes a scarce commodity. Religion
touches on the deepest hopes and fears of the human condition. There is a
yearning for such certainty.

Fundamentalism can be described as a
project to renew a past certainty or to embrace a new one. Such a
project may be religious or secular, but its psychology, I think, can be
best explained by the sociology of religion. The basic aim must be to
suppress or contain doubt. If the fundamentalist project is to be
imposed on an entire society, it requires a totalitarian state that will
effectively prevent any cognitive contamination from the outside.
Modern information technology makes this very difficult, as do the
communications requirements of a modern economy. Slightly less difficult
is a tactic of giving up on the larger society and confining the
fundamentalist project to a sectarian or subcultural community. It helps
if the community can be located in a physically isolated space.

Brigham
Young understood this very well as he led the Mormons across an entire
continent until they got to Utah, where he could say, “This is the
place!” If the location is urban, the physical isolation must be
replaced by social and psychological isolation. A perfect comparison is
between the ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in Brooklyn and in
Jerusalem. Both have constructed quasi-Disneyland replications of a
traditional east-European shtetl—rigorously segregated not only
from the wider pluralistic society but from the wider Jewish
community—separate schools, separate media, relations with the outside
world limited as far as possible to economic ones. In both cases the
residents know that they could leave—the police could not stop
them—they would just have to leave behind every vestige of Hasidic garb,
put on a baseball cap, and (as the case may be) take the subway from
Brooklyn to Manhattan, or a bus from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. I find it
particularly instructive that in both cases there is even a linguistic
barrier against the outside—Yiddish used as a vernacular, fending of the
contamination that could come in through English or modern Israeli
Hebrew! It is obviously difficult for an individual raised in this
environment to “jump over the wall.” Difficult, but not impossible."..........

Monday, January 16, 2017

Opinion: France and another roundup of Jews

Paris conference just another attempt by Europeans to solve the 'Jewish Question'.

NEVER FORGET - NEVER FORGIVE - NEVER AGAIN - PM (ADD-ON)

Honest, I thought they were kidding when I read that leaders from 70
countries were heading for Paris to once and for all solve “The Jewish
Question.”

The meeting took place on Sunday and yes, it wasn’t put quite
like that; they have it as a Paris Conference to solve the Israeli/Arab
issue – as if they really have Israel’s best interests at heart. This is
baloney. All they care about is some new trick to divide Israel out of
existence. The paperwork has already been done.

First of all, 70 countries? How many bigots can you squeeze into one room? Apparently most of the world.

So that’s the story. They have nothing better to do than zoom in on
six and a half million Jews at home in the Jewish State. That Obama is a
part if this makes is doubly obnoxious.

Trump will have to fix this and pronto.

That these Jews live with nearly two million Arabs in the only democracy in the Middle East – never mind.That the Arab/Israeli conflict is the least important issue facing the world at the moment – forget this too.

It’s about nostalgia. The French and the rest of them can’t get over
the good old days when Jews could be rounded up and TRANSPORTED to
Auschwitz.

The Wannsee Conference comes to mind and if you don’t know what happened there we’ll talk about it some other time.

Except that it was at Wannsee where Hitler’s top lieutenants got
together to discuss how best to TRANSPORT Europe’s entire Jewish
Population.

We know the result. No amount of diplomatic double-speak can hide the fact that this is the same Europe all over again.

Why am I bringing up Wannsee when more to the point, for me
personally at least, I should be bringing up Vel’ d’Hiv. This was a
French indoor bicycle stadium that was used by the French as a way
station, a first stop toward transport to the death camps.

Jews brought there had no food, no water, no air, no pity, no hope.
They had nothing but horror. (Drancy was another and actually the first
transport stop.)

The history books have it as the Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup, or The Roundup
of Paris, but my family needs no history book to know what happened.

Over a period of two days and nights, July 16/17, 1942, more than
13,000 Jews were rounded up for transport – among them 4,000 children
and infants.

The Gestapo were delighted. They had asked for only about half that number. The French had never been so efficient.

Our home was Toulouse. This was the Free Zone according to Vichy. Free Zone?

“Not at all,” says Sarah. “The Gestapo were all over the place. They were directing traffic on my way to school – in German.”

Jews were being picked off along the streets. Everybody waited for
the knock on the door. We were next…and all of it happened awfully fast.

One day you’re a proper citizen of France surrounded by hospitable Christian neighbors. Next day you’re a criminal.

Altogether more than 70,000 Jews living in France were handed over to the Gestapo throughout the war.

My sister covers it in her memoir “Sarah and Abraham.” I tell it in my memoir “Escape From Mount Moriah.”

The film “The Sorrow and the Pity” documents France’s shame. Alain Delon tells it well in the movie drama “Mr. Klein.”

So this is a big story and it is nothing new. It is simply happening again. Once again the nations are disturbed.

They are disturbed by the fact that the Jewish people can’t be rounded up for transport. It used to be so simple.

Now the Jews have a home – Israel. This is what irks them and here they come again to fix their “Jewish Problem.”

So I have a personal say in this and I say France’s shame will endure
longer than a meeting on Sunday. This is a shame unforgivable and
everlasting.

Ditto the rest of this heartless world.

New York-based bestselling American novelist Jack Engelhard
writes a regular column for Arutz Sheva. New from the novelist: “News
Anchor Sweetheart,” a novelist’s version of Fox News and Megyn Kelly.
Engelhard is the author of the international bestseller “Indecent
Proposal.” He is the recipient of the Ben Hecht Award for Literary
Excellence. Website: www.jackengelhard.com

Tendler-Like Teacher Says He Only Pursued Students After School!

World's Greatest Criminal Mugshots!

If Your Child Gets Raped - Go First To Your Rabbi - די באַסטערדז!

For My Israeli Readers! צפייה ביקורתית של יהדות אורתודוקסית

CLICK!

Mazel Tov - Rabbi Hershel Schachter!

CLICK ABOVE PHOTO! Rabbi Moshe Feinstein states the very marriage of a gentile woman to a non observant Jew, is equivalent to an open declaration that she will not observe the precepts. This is so, because it is highly unlikely that the gentile member of such a union, will be more committed to Judaism than her remiss Jewish husband (certainly when they are living together prior to their marriage). Unlike mental or tacit negations, explains Rav Feinstein, open declarations do invalidate conversions. When such cases appear before a rabbinical court, its members actually become witnesses to an acceptance declaration that is not sincere. Therefore, it is no longer a tacit insincerity, but rather an obvious one. As such, they are forbidden to sanction the conversion. Regardless of what this Jewish court may declare, the conversion is invalid and the person is not deemed a member of the Jewish nation. In Iggros Moshe, Letters of Moshe (Yoreh De’ah, no. 157), he writes that “According to the Law, it is certain that one who converts for the sake of marriage, does not intend to keep the commandments, and is not a proselyte at all.”

The Tendler Disease in the News - Again!

CLICK!

Child Molestor is Castrated in Plea Deal!

CLICK ON CUT 'EM OFF TENDLER!

We Are In A Time When The Sheep May No Longer Trust The Shepherds!

CLICK!

Tendler Country - Ex - High School Principal Gets 8 Years For Molesting Students!

New Square Appoints Vaad To Deal With Sexual Abuse!

Lakewood Kollel Opens In Senegal!

Scandals Tests Trust in Leadership!

Rabbi Matt Salomon Offers The Pope His Help!

CLICK ON PHOTO!

Oy! Does He Have A Headache!

CLICK ON YOSEL!

Child Abuse - Chipping Away At The Wall Of Silence!

CLICK ON BRIDGE - FOR SALE AT THE AGUDATH ISRAEL!

Rav Yosef Blau Shlita

***CLICK ON PHOTO!*** "Batei Din in our times are not effective in dealing with criminal behavior. Lacking the investigative arm of the police and having restrictive standards of testimony they can not establish guilt. When the culprit is charismatic, he can often get protégés who feel indebted to him to lie to the Beis Din. It takes years before those who have been abused as youngsters to openly face their abuser."

Kolko's Office Sign - Auctioned On eBay!

I'm a bit concerned about Ehud - he can't seem to keep his hands off of me!

Ehud asked me to pardon him!

Looks like George has been hangin' with Bill Clinton!

I look into your eyes --- and I see a rotten crook!

Did you hear the one about the rabbi & the priest? Rabbi Kolko penetrated the priest (oh father)...